Buyers are queuing up to salvage a future for embattled black cab maker
Manganese Bronze, its administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers has claimed.

PwC said it is in talks with “a number” of potential suitors which have approached the company. The talks come after Manganese shares were suspended earlier this month after it revealed it was in the midst of a funding crisis following its urgent recall of 400 cabs after a steering fault was detected.

It is thought that PwC has received more than 50 expressions of interest.

“We have one of the world’s most recognisable cars. We have had hugely encouraging interest already from the UK, Europe and internationally, and from motor manufacturers and financial buyers,” said Matthew Hammond, who is leading the process for PwC.

He added that any further interested parties should contact PwC “as a matter of urgency”.

Mr Hammond said the immediate priority was to correct the engineering fault that initially triggered the recall of the Tx4 taxis, enabling the taxi drivers affected to get back to work.

“We are working tremendously hard with the management team, and with UK and Chinese suppliers to reach a solution,” Mr Hammond said. “We are acutely conscious of the needs of London’s taxi drivers.”

It is thought that the process of correcting the fault could take a number of weeks, because once a solution has been found changes will have to be made to around 1,000 vehicles, including those that have already been sold and those waiting to be sold.

If PwC cannot secure sufficient funding to restructure the business it will seek to sell the company and its assets. Assets include a manufacturing facility in Coventry, where Manganese is based, as well as a dealer network across the UK. It employs 280 people in the UK.

The company has been plagued by a series of troubles and losses over the past four years, and chief executive John Russell said on Tuesday that the recall had proved the “fatal blow”.

“We’ve had a tough old four years, with lots of problems with the economy, and some of them self-inflicted. You think you’re getting through it and then something like this comes along and it was a fatal blow really,” he said.

Mr Russell said there was “inherent value” in the company. “I remain confident we will come out of this with a future. We go into this with a tremendous amount of goodwill.”

The faulty steering boxes were supplied by a Chinese company, introduced to Manganese by Geely, which has a 20pc stake in the London cab maker.

Manganese last month revealed a £3.6m pre-tax loss for the first half of the year.